Many user devices include and support a varied suite of mobile applications, or “apps,” enabling users to download and install many different applications to their user devices. The different applications, some of which include components configured to present content to users, may have different or custom online content interfaces and retrieval/delivery protocols. Additionally, the applications may request for and receive content (e.g., video content, audio content, and so on) from various different online, networked, and/or remote content sources, such as content delivery networks (CDNs), remote content servers, remote content storage sites, and so on.
Content is often delivered from remote content servers or associated edge caches to requesting devices (e.g., mobile or other user devices) over a network. Typically, a content provider or other network component utilizes cache controllers and associated algorithms to determine the content delivered to user devices that should be cached, such as content that is predicted to be popular, viral, and/or often requested by user devices. Therefore, when a user device requests delivery of a popular piece of content, the content provider, via the network edge cache, is able to quickly respond and deliver the requested content to the user device from the network edge cache that is proximate to the requesting user device.
Often, the delivery of content to a user device from a remote content source is less than optimal, especially when the user wishes to immediately consume the content. For example, the delivery of content from a remote server to a user device may be slow or ineffective due to limitations at the content source, in the delivery network, at the user device, and so on.